Profiling the social gamer: infographic

An obsession with social gaming peaked in 2010, remained steady during 2011 and is only now starting to even out.

But just because the buzz has quietened, it doesn’t mean the growth rate is slowing.

Our most recent stats on social gaming (based on responses from 2,000 UK consumers) show that a fifth of respondents - 19% - said they played social games online. Social games were also played frequently, with almost a third of gamers (30%) saying they play several times a day.

Plus, 15% of social gamers had purchased virtual goods and 8% virtual currency – which gives weight to Juniper’s prediction that the amount of money spent in this area will double in the next four years from $2.1bn last year to $4.8bn in 2016.

But just who are these social gamers?

Our research suggests that slightly more females are playing social games (20% compared to 18% for males). A new infographic from Flowtown says the same – with 54% female to 46% male.

Flowtown also says that most US-based social gamers are married with children, earn $50–74k and are obsessed with Words with Friends - which probably isn’t far off what the profile would be from a global perspective too.

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